Fulfilling the Dream
I was reading a post by our good friend GM Roper in which he speaks of the troops returning from Iraq, and the thought occured to me that the U.S. military might provide a valuable lesson on Martin Luther King`s holiday:
Martin Luther King dreamed of a nation which would judge not based on a person`s station in life, or the color of his skin, but on the content of his character. He worked for an America where people of all races, creeds, and status could join together for the common good, could overlook the petty differences which divide us.
His dream has been coming true at an institution called the United States Military. Here everyone-rich or poor, white or black or Asian or Latino, Catholic, Methodist, Jewish, Moslem, Atheist, etc. are welcome. They have a higher purpose, and when they become soldiers they remove their superficial racial and cultural garments and put on the uniform of their country. America`s fighting men and women have more noble concerns than who was what in civilian life; their lives, and the lives of those for whom they fight, depend on who they have chosen to be, not who they once were. They have remade themselves into soldiers, and they judge each-other as soldiers. They have, by necessity, created a culture which discriminates solely on the content of individual character-and so should we.
Isn`t it strange that many who supposedly advocate civil rights are happy to deny those rights to others? Isn`t it strange that often those who claim the legacy of Dr. King`s dream, who rail against the unfairness of what they perceive as a racist America, frequently loath the institution which best embodies that dream-the United States military?
The military, by standing ever vigilant, guarantees those civil rights, and makes it possible for those dreamers to labor for the society they want. The military people guarantee our freedom to pursue Dr. King`s dream, and they live that dream themselves. We should remember that.
If we want to celebrate civil rights, we should first thank a soldier.
Martin Luther King dreamed of a nation which would judge not based on a person`s station in life, or the color of his skin, but on the content of his character. He worked for an America where people of all races, creeds, and status could join together for the common good, could overlook the petty differences which divide us.
His dream has been coming true at an institution called the United States Military. Here everyone-rich or poor, white or black or Asian or Latino, Catholic, Methodist, Jewish, Moslem, Atheist, etc. are welcome. They have a higher purpose, and when they become soldiers they remove their superficial racial and cultural garments and put on the uniform of their country. America`s fighting men and women have more noble concerns than who was what in civilian life; their lives, and the lives of those for whom they fight, depend on who they have chosen to be, not who they once were. They have remade themselves into soldiers, and they judge each-other as soldiers. They have, by necessity, created a culture which discriminates solely on the content of individual character-and so should we.
Isn`t it strange that many who supposedly advocate civil rights are happy to deny those rights to others? Isn`t it strange that often those who claim the legacy of Dr. King`s dream, who rail against the unfairness of what they perceive as a racist America, frequently loath the institution which best embodies that dream-the United States military?
The military, by standing ever vigilant, guarantees those civil rights, and makes it possible for those dreamers to labor for the society they want. The military people guarantee our freedom to pursue Dr. King`s dream, and they live that dream themselves. We should remember that.
If we want to celebrate civil rights, we should first thank a soldier.
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 5:58 AM
2 Comments:
Excellent observation Tim one that I had not seen!
Thanks, Learner!
Post a Comment
<< Home